I spent this weekend getting my retractable gear working. Last weekend I picked up some 5606 aviation hydraulic fluid, so I filled the tank and gave it a whirl. I should have checked all the hydraulic fittings first, as after a few actuations, the red fluid started dripping out the bottom of the keel. I found two fittings that were only finger tight. I went through all the fittings, cleaned up the mess and gave it another go. About 12hrs later, after much adjustment and futzing, it works pretty well. I installed a pressure gauge to measure set the high-pressure shutoff switches. Unfortunately, it looks like I have one bad shutoff switch. The switch used to sense the pressure when lowering the gear appears to be permanently on as the only way I can lower the gear is by pushing the “Reset” button which bypasses this switch. A little lubrication of the main gear mechanism was needed to get it to drop down using the emergency release. The nose gear does not quite hit the gear up sensor switch when dropped down by gravity – a little more adjustment needed there.
Here’s a couple videos showing actuation of the gear: